Fulcher just 'coincidence'

A FRESH set of eyes and time have allowed cold case detectives to develop new lines of inquiry that were not pursued completely at the time of the fast-moving investigation in 2011.

That’s according to Detective Chief Inspector Sean Memory, who has presided over several breakthroughs in the cases of Sian O’Callaghan and Becky Godden-Edwards since taking over in February.

But the officer said former senior investigator, Detective Superintendent Steve Fulcher, had had to focus on finding Sian in the six days between her disappearance in Old Town and the discovery of her body near Uffington White Horse in March 2011.

It was revealed Mr Fulcher, who was found guilty of gross misconduct over aspects of his handling of the case, resigned from Wiltshire Police on Thursday on the same day police made their latest discovery.

But DCI Memory said it was coincidence and the two revelations were not related.

He said: “Steve was a colleague of mine and I respect the decision he has made.His resignation is not linked to the findings here. I don’t think it is a case of these leads not being followed up at the time. There was obviously more than enough evidence to mean Chris Haliwell pleaded guilty to Sian’s murder. There was significant effort to locate the murder weapon and Steve managed to locate Sian relatively quickly, which was his main focus.”